The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA has sent forth 235 Nigerians to India and Greece as batch B of the 435 young Nigerians to be trained as Licenced Deck and Engine Officers including Naval Architects under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP).
The Minister of Transportation Engineer Muazu Jaji Sambo who was the special guest of honor this during the sent-forth ceremony christened NSDP phase 3, TERRA II over the weekend in Lagos, noted that the federal government’s decision to continue with the project is based on the role it’s playing in developing capacity for the Nigerian maritime industry.
The Ministry explicitly gave its nod on the expansion of the Programme by another set of 435 new students to be recruited into the NSDP.
The flag off of the 3rd phase of NSDP “Christened NSDP-TERRA” marks another milestone in the development of manpower in line with the federal government’s policy on youth empowerment.
On his part, the Director General of NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh, noted that the Agency is working with countries that are committed to an understanding for mutual recognition of Certificate of Competency, CoC, in selecting the Institutes to train the beneficiaries.
While acknowledging some teething challenges experienced by the NSDP scholarship scheme in the earlier Phases, the NIMASA DG noted that all grey areas have been addressed to ensure a better deal for both beneficiaries and the Nigerian Government.
Giving a breakdown of the number of seafarer enrolment, graduates and those already employed, Jamoh said: “It is important to note that from inception to 2020, the programme has enrolled 2,041 students, while 892 are now licensed deck and engine officers including Naval Architects, the rest are in their final stage of the programme.
NIMASA in 2008 initiated the NSDP with the sole mandate of training Nigerian youths to become seafarers and Naval Architects in fulfilling one of its core in the area of Maritime Capacity Building.
The programme was designed to train Nigerian youths up to Degree level in Marine Engineering, Nautical Sciences and Naval Architecture in some of the best Maritime Training Institutions (MTIs) abroad and to position them to compete effectively in the global maritime industry.
